Correction: Officer's Shooting-Suspect Arrested story

Updated
7:31 pm EDT, Monday, March 18, 2019

NEW YORK (AP) — In a story March 17 about the arrest of a man wanted in the 1999 shooting of a New York Police Department officer, The Associated Press reported erroneously that the officer had died, relying on information from the police department. A spokeswoman for the department now says Vincent Ling survived and has since retired.

A corrected version of the story is below:

Suspect in 1999 shooting of NYPD officer arrested in Florida

The commissioner of the New York Police Department is thanking law enforcement in Florida after the arrest of a suspect in a 1999 shooting of an off-duty police officer

NEW YORK (AP) — A man wanted in the 1999 shooting of an off-duty New York Police Department officer was arrested in Florida almost two decades after the incident, and the head of the NYPD on Sunday offered his thanks to fellow law enforcement for their perseverance.

Local television stations in Jacksonville, Florida, reported Lester Pearson, 43, was taken into custody Friday morning in connection to the shooting of officer Vincent Ling.

NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill tweeted his appreciation Sunday for Jacksonville police and U.S. marshals in the arrest.

"Law enforcement professionals demonstrate time & again that we are patient & that our collaborative forces have a very long reach," he said.

Ling, 27 years old at the time and an undercover officer, was shot in the chest and had a bullet between two vertebrae. Sgt. Jessica McRorie, a police spokeswoman, says that Officer Vincent Ling survived and has since retired, even though O'Neill had tweeted that Ling had been killed.

It was not clear if Pearson had a lawyer who could comment on his behalf. Messages were sent to the Jacksonville prosecutors' office, and an email was also sent to the Bronx District Attorney's office.

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said it had no information Sunday on the arrest. The U.S. Marshals Service did not return calls seeking comment.

The NYPD did not describe the circumstances of the shooting but, according to a New York Post account at the time, the December 1999 conflict in the Bronx started when the two men ran into each other on the street and an argument ensued. They were connected through the officer's sister.

Pearson at that time had an extensive arrest record and one conviction.